the value of good works
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A father said to his daughter “You have graduated with honors, here is a car I bought many years ago. It is pretty old now. But before I give it to you, take it to the used car lot downtown and tell them I want to sell it and see how much they offer you for it.
The daughter went to the used car lot, returned to her father and said, “They offered me $1,000 because the said it looks pretty worn out.”
The father said, now “Take it to the pawn shop.” The daughter went to the pawn shop, returned to her father and said,”The pawn shop offered only $100 because it is an old car.”
The father asked his daughter to go to a car club now and show them the car. The daughter then took the car to the club, returned and told her father,” Some people in the club offered $100,000 for it because it’s a Nissan Skyline R34, it’s an iconic car and sought by many collectors”
Now the father said this to his daughter, “The right place values you the right way,” If you are not valued, do not be angry, it means you are in the wrong place. Those who know your value are those who appreciate you……Never stay in a place where no one sees your value.
Why did the car club offer so much more money for the car than the all the other places? Because they saw the value in such a rare and sought after car. they understood its importance. They saw its value, it worth and were willing to do what it takes to procure this rare car.
This got me to thinking. Why do we come up lacking in the good works category? Why do we find it so difficult to get out and do good works? Why is it that we are not as devoted and committed to good works as we should be? Maybe its because our value system is all messed up. Maybe its because we do not see the value in good works. Normally before we do anything, we ask ourselves, “what’s in it for me”. Sometimes we might not actually say those words but we think to ourselves what can I get out of this? We do this especially when it comes to making decisions and doing things as a church. We question why put in all this effort work and money into something if we don’t see results that we want. And I want you to hear what I said. We don’t see the results we want. I think our value system is all messed up. If the reason we do or not do what we do is based on what we get out of it, or whats the return going to be, I think we have missed the point, we have missed what God said to do. I’m glad Paul didn’t base his ministry on the results because often times the results were that people rejected his message and he got ran out of town, a lot. We need to understand that its our job to be obedient (do what he says to do), so the seed and God gives the increase. The results are in God’s hands, we just show up and get to work.
in order to stir us up to good works I think it is important for us to see and understand the value in good works. What happens when we consistently, constantly are devoted and committed to good works?
When we are committed to good works...
First we show our gratitude to God for the gift of His Son. Col. 1:10-12 We show God that we understand and appreciate the sacrifice of Jesus. We are saying we understand the value of what God gave for our redemption. We are saying thank you to God, I love you God. Our gratitude for God and what he did through His Son ought to be overflowing. We could give thanks every second of every day to God and it would still not be enough to truly express and thankful, how grateful, we are for what He did for us through His Son. One way that we can show our gratitude is through good works.
Second, good works help us know that we walking in the light or by faith (1 John 2:1-6). This is how we know Him and that we are in Him, and love Him. We keep His commandments. One commandment that we have is to do good works. After all we were Eph. 2:10. Verse 6 told us that we ought to walk in the same manner as He walked. We can have assurance that we are in Christ and we can show our gratitude for Jesus sacrifice.
Third, good works are a means of encouraging other Christians toward greater acts of Christ-centered love (Heb. 10:24). When we engage in acts of good deeds for others in the church we are encouraging them to probably go and do likewise. The idea of Pay It Forward. You do something to someone and that moves the to go and do the same. It might be that one good work you do for someone might help that person to say if they can do that then I can do… we all need to be encouraged, it feels good when someone does something for us. it lifts our spirits and it should cause us to desire to at the very least return the favor and show our appreciation. But for me I’d rather you turn around and do a good deed for someone else. By engaging in good deeds we show how grateful we are to God for His Son, We have assurance that we are in Christ, we encourage others towards good works, and
Fourth, good works silence critics who devalue the goodness of biblical Christianity (1 Peter 2:12, 15). TV and media already does a good job at making Christianity look bad. Christianity is already looked at as archaic out of date religion that creates more conflict than it does anything else. The world looks Christians and sees they don’t live out some of the most basic teachings of Christ that they say the hold to. We don’t need to give our enemies or the world any more help in devaluing biblical Christianity. Now more than ever the world needs to see our good deeds. We need to be taking the lead in showing people how to serve, help others, and to love others, and we do that through our good works. Normally what the world sees most often is the problems, the fights, the disunity and so no wonder they think so little of the Lord’s church. We need to silence the ignorance of foolish men by our good deeds. People ought to glorify God because of our good deeds. But if we are not engaged in good deeds, then what are they going to see. I know a lot of people who want to help others and think that it is good to serve and help others. I have also been told by several people that the reason why they don’t want to part of the Lords church here in Giddings is because we don’t do anything. It’s like you people are dead. How is that showing the world the goodness and greatness of God, How is that silencing the critics. When we are engaged in good works we show our gratitude to God, we have assurance that we are in Christ, we encourage others towards good works, we show the goodness of biblical Christianity.
Fifth, good works glorify God and proves that we are His disciples (John 15:8-11). I don’t know about you but I want God to be glorified. I want people to praise and honor God. That’s the reason I engage in good works. I engage in good works because I want to be obedient to Him, I want to show how much I love Him. I want others to see how much I love Him and I want others to see how great God is. Think just for a moment this morning about all the good works that God has done in your life and is doing in your life currently. Where would you be without God? what would your life be like without God? I want everyone to know how awesome God really is. I want to glorify God through my good works, and by being engaged in good works I can know that I am His disciple.
THERE IS VALUE IN ENGAGING IN GOOD WORKS! BY ENGAGING IN GOOD WORKS WE CAN SHOW OUR GRATITUDE TO GOD, WE CAN HAVE ASSURANCE THAT WE ARE HIS DISCIPLES (OR IN CHRIST), WE CAN ENCOURAGE OTHERS TO ENGAGE IN GOOD WORKS, WE CAN SHOW THE WORLD THE GOODNESS OF CHRISTIANITY, AND WE CAN GLORIFY GOD.
Will you join me this year in engaging in good deeds. Will you commit, will you be devoted to good deeds? Lets bring honor and glory to God by engaging in Good Deeds!